PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: 1-Harter's Introduction
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 13:19:43 -0400

This is T. A. Harter's introduction to his series of Boonastiel stories.

vee

HISTORICAL

Although I have allowed this volume to go before the public
under the title of "Pennsylvania Dutch," I have not done so with
the understanding that the term, "Dutch" is justified by history,
but rather by custom, as Dutch is English for Deitsch--the dialect
term for German.

There are no "Pennsylvania Dutch" in our state as a
distinctive class, and there never has been. The "Pennsylvania
German," however, is and has been for nearly, if not quite, two
centuries a marked individuality, and a powerful constructive force
in her history and upbuilding. It is surprising that men versed in
the history of the state should not distinguish between the German
immigrant of the lower Rhine and the "Dutch" or Netherlands
settlers of New York. It is true that the Dutch and Germans are
descendants of the same great Teutonic family and that they
anciently spoke the same language, but they are in many respects a
distinct people, at least through political and governmental
differences. There never was a perceptible immigration of Dutch
into Pennsylvania although a few families in our own and other
countries can trace their ancestry back to Holland.

To be precise the Pennsylvania German game from the Palatinate
and his language or better his dialect, is that of lower or
Northern Germany. His earliest arrival was possible the religious
recluses of the Wisihickon prior to Penn's arrival. Shortly after
Penn came in 1682 a settlement by Germans was made at Germantown.
The revocation of the edict of Nantes drove thousands to England
and Queen Anne made great efforts to alleviate their sufferings,
spending thousands of pounds of her own private fortune in their
behalf. The religious persecutions which followed the revocation
forced thousands of them, with their Huguenot fellow sufferers upon
England, and the influx of a foreign speaking, poverty-stricken,
people became a menace to the English through over-crowding. Many
were sent to Ireland and others were transported to the colony of
New York and settled on the Mohawk river. Disputes with the English
and the Dutch settled in that colony concerning the lands on which
they had located caused many of them to travel overland to the head
waters of the Susquehanna river, where, making rafts they floated
down the river (North Branch) and settled at various points in
Pennsylvania, among them being the family of the celebrated Conrad
Weiser. This was about the year 1709, and the next move was by
vessel from the Ports of Germany and England, Penn himself having
invited them to settle in his colony. From that time up until 1765,
and even later, there was a steady stream of immigration.

Such is their origin. Their literature is scant and
altogether local, confined mostly to newspaper and periodical
publications.

Had Luther translated the Bible into the dialect of lower
Germany the Pennsylvania German would have been classical; or
putting it better, the dialect of lower German instead of that of
southern Germany would have been the literary language of the
great German speaking people. "Low Dutch" is a phrase often applied
alike to the Pennsylvania German and to his dialect, by his English
speaking fellow citizens, and by Germans speaking the language of
Luther and Schiller. Where applied intelligibly it merely refers to
the language and people of the north or low part of German and
carries with it no reflection. He has been a loyal patriotic
citizen from his first arrival. Was the first to openly protest
against Negro slavery and has shed his blood in defense of his
country in every war since 1755 to the Boxer troubles.

He has been eminent in every walk of life. Snyder, Wold
Schenck, Hartranft, Beaver (on his mother's side of the house), and
Pennypacker, are some of the names he has give to history, and
hundreds of others whose names have added to the glory of
Pennsylvania have on their maternal side the blood of the
"Pennsylvania German." Nor is this race confined to our own state.
Thousands of them are to be found throughout the country, and
wherever the flag floats.

He has clung most tenaciously to his language as the German
always does, but not in later years to the exclusion of the
English.

Take the "Pennsylvania German" out of the history of the State
and you remove Hamlet from the play.

He has never proclaimed his deeds form the housetops, and
perhaps, until very recently, has regarded the record of his
ancestors as not calling for particular mention. While the Puritan,
the Cavalier, the Knickerbocker, Huguenot, and the Scotch Irish
have each had their praises sung by their writers, the field is
still open for a no less interesting story: that of the
"Pennsylvania German" miscalled the "Pennsylvania Dutch."

T. H. Harter

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